PCTG from nobufil

Bambu Filament and Accesories
1

HI,

I’ve just bought a roll of PCTG Candy Green from Nobufil. I’m just wondering if all the PCTG filaments are transparent/ translucent ?

After a calibration from the generic PCTG profile; it prints beautifully but I’m surprise about the slight transparency ?!?

This Candy green has a kind of mother-of-pearl effect (nacre).

I’ve calibrated it like this with Orca slicer (2.4.1):

  • nozzle temperature → 245 degrees (the temperature tower from 250 to 280; the bridge section was really bad so 245 was the best)
  • fan → min: 20%, max: 50% (values from the manufacturer so I’ve used these values)
  • PEI plate temperature → 85 degrees
  • retraction length → 0.2 mm
  • flow ratio → 0.91
  • pressure advance → 0.025
  • max volumetric speed → 18 mm/s (couldn’t find any issue with the standard calibration model so I went with 18 instead of 20 which was the max)

I’ve never printed with PETG or PCTG so I don’t have a reference… used PLA for the last 2 years with the A1.

2

Yes, PCTG is slightly transparent compared to PETG. There are matte varieties and the darker colors tend to be less transparent. I print a lot from 3D-Fuel. I really love PCTG, it’s much more easier to print than it’s cousin PETG. More vendors are getting into the game so the prices are coming down and there are more color choices than before.

3

Thanks for the reply

yeas £28 a roll from 3D Jake; £10 more that I tend to pay locally in the UK for PLA.

I print from a cereal dry box so I didn’t encounter so far any hygroscopic issue.

4

@hyiger do you find it’s harder to remove stuff from the build plate? …like the two wiggly lines at the beginning of each print

5

The purge lines? Not really but it depends on the plate. I use CryoGrip Glacier with PCTG. Prints adhere well and are still easy to remove.

6

ah I’m using the textured PEI plate, will have a look at the glacier. Thanks

7

I use a piece of masking tape in that area to make the purge lines easier to pop off, regardless of the plate

8

PLA in the UK is £10; Sunlu is reliable at that price from their store direct, or from eBay (I avoid eBay as I am still boycotting American product). There are other brands at similar prices. Almost all of the big name Chinese PLA brands have similar property and quality (i.e. it’s both higher quality and cheaper than UK-made filament. If you want keep it within the region, Mainland Europe has a lot of reliable filament brands at around £20-25 per kg)

edit 123-3d is a uk company and either cheaper than 3djake, or will ship faster. it’s an ok store for buying imported filament. 3d jake are actually good but they are Euro meaning shipping is not quite so streamlined (longer or more expensive).

9

PC does not have to be naturally translucent but most of the grades that are useful to 3d printing are.

However raw PC does not print, so it needs additives to make it printable, and these can change the translucency. The manufacturer can also choose to change that specifically with “aesthetic” additives.

In short, it will be translucent unless the manufactuer makes it not, passes the cost on to the customer.

edit If you are expeiencing trouble with PC, PETG is a halfway between PLA and PC. It is much easier to print, much cheaper, and comes in many colours and translucencies, at cost of being physically weaker and lower temperature than PC. If your model can survive in PETG, I would recommend that over PC.

10

My advice would be not to do that. The reason is that I use the purge line as a way of gauging how well my print will adhere to the build plate. If it curls up or comes off too easily then I know I will need to (possibly) add an adhesive layer and a brim.

11

@Eponymous have you try 3DQF from Manchester instead of importing from China?

12

Yes, I have. They are expensive at £20 plus (about 2x the price) and the quality of their £10 “economy PLA” was absolutely terrible. However they seem to have stopped selling that one, so perhaps they learned not to sell stuff like that anymore?

However their spools are awful. It’s corrugated cardboard that collapses under its own weight making it unsuitable for AMS. Most other brands have switched to plastic, or refills, and the ones using cardboard generally use stronger cardboard (some kind of stuff that looks like MDF but is card).

No I am not going to print adapters anymore, AMS and clones have been a thing for many years and it’s about time spools just worked with it.

For similar price and slightly longer shipping you can European filament with proper spools. Cheaper even in some cases.

For half the price and similar shipping you can buy Chinese filament on proper spools.

edit I just looked at 3DQF’s current website They still have have the corrugated cardboard spool but I noticed one redeeming factor that I might buy just for one thing, they have a colour named “British summer grey”.

13

I don’t really care about the cardboard as I’m printing from a cereal dry box with an axel on bearings (and using a BMCU). They are doing re-fill as well if you have a master spool like the bambu one.

I don’t see myself having a huge amount of plastic spools around the house! :sweat_smile:

I tend to print with their re-worked filaments.